News

NZ Film Awards 2012 Winners

Taken from NZ Herald.

Samoan-New Zealand movie The Orator has dominated the inaugural Sorta Unofficial New Zealand Film Awards taking away eight trophies - or "Moas" - from its 11 nominations.

The film equalled Two Little Boys in the number of categories it was a finalist in. But The Orator left its nearest competition taking away just two awards at the ceremony held in Auckland last night.

As well as best film, The Orator won its writer-director Tusi Tamasese the screenplay and directing prizes. Its cast also took away best actor, actress and supporting actress Moas, and the film also won sound and design. Most of the actors on the film - about a bullied dwarf in an isolated Samoan village standing up for himself and family - were non-professionals while it's Tamasese's debut feature.

Read the full article here (includes full list of winners).

Dotcom to be Santa in MEGACHRISTMAS

Taken from NZ Herald.

Kim Dotcom will play Santa in an irreverent star-studded Christmas play in Auckland.

The internet mogul this morning tweeted the news he is taking the role of St Nick in the MEGACHRISTMAS play set to be held at The Basement theatre from December 12.

"I'm Santa in the #MegaChristmas play at The Basement. The funniest Xmas play ever. Get ur ticket now. Not for kids," he wrote.

The Basement theatre confirmed the news in a tweet sent minutes later.

MEGACHRISTMAS is billed as a Christmas pantomime filled with inappropriate festive jokes and "naughty Christmas Carols".

Read the full article here.

ATC 2013 Season

Futurity. The future. Our hopes and dreams for it.

What it promises; what challenges it might present obsess most of the characters in our forthcoming season as new generations confront the future and challenge minds, motives and moralities of the old order. When breaking points are reached, something's got to give. The results are, in turn, hilarious, heartbreaking, delicate, dangerous and daring.

Kingdoms may fall, long-held family secrets spill out, sacred cows are sacrificed, political myths are punctured, a queen loses her head and on an isolated Pacific island, the very fabric of civilization itself is rent asunder as the schoolboy survivors of an air disaster confront their future. And in a Chicago prison, some sexy jailbirds look forward to a sparkling future (and getting away with murder!) with a little help from their razzle-dazzle lawyer.

AUCKLAND THEATRE COMPANY programme 2013

7 Feb - 2 March - KINGS OF THE GYM. Cast includes John Leigh, Bronwyn Bradley, Cian Elyse White and Brett O'Gorman. Direction by Peter Elliott.

11 April - 4 May - MIDNIGHT IN MOSCOW. Cast includes Robyn Malcolm, Michael Hurst, Elena Stejko, Hera Dunleavy and Sophie Hambleton. Direction by Colin McColl.

9 May - 1 June - THE GLASS MENAGERIE. Cast includes Elizabeth Hawthorne, Antonia Prebble, Edwin Wright and Richard Knowles. Direction by Jef Hall-Flavin.

13 June - 7 July - ANNE BOLEYN. Cast includes Anna Julienne, George Henare, Simon Prast, Raymond Hawthorne, Paul Minifie, Andrew Grainger, Stephen Lovatt and Ken Blackburn. Direction by Colin McColl.

18 July - 10 Aug - THE HERETIC. Cast includes Jennifer Ward-Lealand and Andrew Grainger.

5 Sept - 28 Sept - LORD OF THE FLIES. Cast includes Leon Wadham and Elliot Christensen-Yule. Direction by Colin McColl.

1 Nov - 24 Nov - CHICAGO. Cast includes Amanda Billing and Hannah Tasker-Poland. Direction by Michael Hurst.

For further information visit the Auckland Theatre Company website

Radio NZ: National on The Hobbit crisis

Kathryn Ryan of Radio NZ Nine to Noon talks to US entertainment attorney Jonathan Handel as he looks back on the attempt to unionise NZ actors on The Hobbit and how it became a national crisis.

Jonathan Handel is an entertainment attorney and Hollywood Reporter contributing editor.

Listen to the interview here.

Chapman Tripp Awards 2012

Taken from Stuff, by Sophie Speer.

Performing in Peninsula as both a family's pet dog and a rigid school teacher with a secret has earned actor Jason Whyte a nomination in the Chapman Tripp Theatre Awards.

The play, written by Gary Henderson and directed by Jane Waddell, is up for seven awards in the annual celebration of cultural excellence in the capital.

It tells the story of a young boy living on Banks Peninsula in Canterbury in the 1960s, drawing heavily on the audience's own childhood memories and sense of nostalgia. It was performed at Circa Theatre as part of the New Zealand International Arts Festival.

The Chapman Tripp Theatre Awards nominees were selected from 100 eligible productions performed in the capital this year.

Along with Whyte's nomination for outstanding performance, Waddell is up for director of the year and Michele Amas has been shortlisted for supporting actress of the year.

The Prospect is tied with Peninsula for the most nominations, including nominations for sound designer, most promising new director for Tammy Davis and most promising female newcomer for Moana Ete.

Written by Maraea Rakuraku, The Prospect is set in a small Bay of Plenty town, which is ripped apart by the lure of drugs and gang membership.

West End Girls and The Maori Troilus and Cressida - Toroihi Rua Ko Khira are both up for five awards.

Five Wellington theatre critics narrowed down the year's best and brightest theatre shows to nominees in each of the 19 award categories.

The Critics Wildcard Award and the Mayoral Award for Significant Contribution to Theatre will be announced on the night.

Auckland Actors' Nancy Brunning and Yvette Parsons are both up for awards. Read the full list of nominations here.

Q&A with The Fall Guys director Scott Boswell

Taken from Flicks, by Ed.

The Fall Guys is an independent Kiwi crime comedy following three criminally clueless college buddies who come into possession of three cases of premium grade heroin. When put under the heat of police interrogations, each lad gives their own side of the story. We asked directors Scott Boswell a few questions ahead of the film's premiere on November 24 at SkyCity Theatre. As you'll find out, it's already an award-winner...

What should people expect from The Fall Guys?

It's a wild ride that twists and turns. Basically the concept was what Tarantino or Guy Ritchie would make if they were born in Auckland, NZ. I wanted a fish out of water story with Kiwis getting mixed up with English gangsters and hard nosed cops. It's a fun farce that plays on Hollywood cliches and New Zealand stereotypes.

What is your strongest memory from filming?

One truly amazing thing was the finding of a film-friendly abandoned warehouse location. We got a great deal and shot inside and outside for 5 weekends. All the car scenes were shot in the carpark outside. We also got the basement, the underground carpark at the end, and all the interrogations. We drenched the walls and floors in blood which took nearly all night to clean after two seconds of firing a mortar cannon filled with blood and brains into the back of Matt MacDougall's head.

That location was amazing; it saved our film. We had been pushing those scenes further and further down the schedule then at the last moment where the film may have ground to a halt we got it. The sad thing is that wonderful location in St. Lukes is now an empty lot. R.I.P.

Read the full interview here.

Kiwi Actors Suffer after Hobbit Dispute

Taken from Stuff, by Tom Hunt & Paul Easton.

Since the infamous actors' dispute over terms and conditions on The Hobbit, some Kiwi actors have had to endure on-set conditions that include sharing coloured prop contact lenses, their union says.

Phil Darkins, of Actors' Equity, told the conference in Wellington yesterday he had also heard of actors being verbally abused, denied shelter, and not being offered blankets or warm drinks after long shoots in the water.

Those who spoke out would not get further work, he said.

"To go public is essentially falling on your sword and saying your career is over."

Two years ago, Actors' Equity had already spent 18 months trying to talk to the Screen Production and Development Association about getting binding terms and conditions for New Zealand actors - a move that would bring New Zealand in line with the rest of the English-speaking world.

New Zealand had guidelines only - and still does - and these were sometimes ignored, he said.

The dispute in 2010, in which unions called for actors to not sign up with The Hobbit until the row was sorted out, led to studios New Line, Warner Bros Pictures and MGM Pictures, as well as Hobbit director Sir Peter Jackson, saying this could force the production overseas.

The Government cut a deal, changing employment law - essentially making film workers contractors rather than employees - and giving Warner an increased tax concession to secure the films.

Read the full article here.

The NZ film awards nominations 2012

Taken from NZ Herald, by Russell Baillie.

New Zealand movie makers left out in the cold by the national telly awards dropping film categories from their annual prize-giving are still getting an annual gong-fest to call their own.

The Sorta Unofficial New Zealand Film Awards - organised by Hugh Sundae of nzherald.co.nz and Ant Timpson and presented by the NZ Herald and Rialto Channel - announced its nominations list last night, recognising the past year's Kiwi flicks great and small.

The SUNZFA categories take in fully fledged features, cinema-aimed documentaries, self-funded features and short films.

Among the leading contenders for the Moas - "named in honour of something extinct" say the organisers - are Two Little Boys and The Orator with 11 nominations each.

Read the full list of nominees here.

NZ TV Awards Winners 2012

Full list of winners below:

Best Factual Series
Rader Across the Pacific
Alexander Behse-Zeitgeist Productions (TV ONE)

Best Observational Reality Series
SPCA Rescue - Christchurch Earthquake Special
Megan Jones - Imagination Television (TV ONE)

Best Constructed Reality Series
The Food Truck
James Anderson & Nick Ward - Two Heads (TV ONE)

Best Current Affairs Reporting for a Weekly Programme OR One-Off Current Affairs Special
Mark Crysell & Julie Clothier
Cherry Blossom Tragedy
Sunday (TV ONE)

Best Current Affairs Reporting for a Daily Programme
Gill Higgins & Chris Lynch
Online Predators
Close Up (TV ONE)

Best Director - Entertainment / Factual
Julie Christie
The Block NZ
Eyeworks New Zealand (TV3)

Best Multi-camera Direction
Mitchell Hawkes
Vodafone NZ Music Awards 2011
Mediaworks TV (FOUR)

Best Cinematography Drama / Comedy
David Paul
Tangiwai - A Love Story
Lippy Pictures (TV ONE)

Best News Camera
Phil Johnson
Fiji Floods
3 News (TV3)

Best Current Affairs Camera
Daniel Grade
Horn of Africa Famine
60 Minutes (TV3)

Best Children's / Youth Programme
Let's Get Inventin'
Claire Logan
Luke Nola (TVNZ7)

Best Information Series
Global Radar
Jane Andrews
Jam TV (TV ONE)

Best Entertainment or Event Programme
Vodafone NZ Music Awards 2011
Arwen O'Connor, Angela Mann
Mediaworks TV (FOUR)

Best Performance by a Supporting Actress
Miriama Smith
Siege
Screentime NZ (TV ONE)

Best Performance by a Supporting Actor
Mick Rose
Tangiwai - A Love Story
Lippy Pictures (TV ONE)

Best Presenter - Entertainment / Factual
Matai Smith
Homai Te Pakipaki
Maori Television

Best Editing Drama / Comedy
Margot Francis
BLISS - the beginning of Katherine Mansfield
MF Films (TV ONE)

Best Original Music
Don McGlashan
BLISS - the beginning of Katherine Mansfield
MF Films (TV ONE)

Best Sound Design
Chris Burt
Siege
Screentime NZ (TV ONE)

Best News Reporting
Duncan Garner & Patrick Gower
Secret Tea Tapes
3 News (TV3)

Best Current Affairs
60 Minutes
TV3

Investigation of the Year
Melanie Reid & Eugene Bingham
The Eye of the Storm
60 Minutes (TV3)

Best Director Documentary
Gerard Smyth
When A City Falls - The People's Story
Frank Film (TV3)

Best Cinematography - Documentary / Factual
Simon Baumfield
Shackleton's Captain
Making Movies (TV ONE)

Best Editing - Documentary / Factual
Ken Sparks, Richard Lord
When A City Falls - The People's Story
Frank Film (TV3)

Best Performance by an Actor
Mark Mitchinson
Siege
Screentime NZ (TV ONE)

Best Performance by an Actress
Sara Wiseman
What Really Happened - Votes for Women
Eyeworks New Zealand (TV ONE)

Best One-Off Drama
Siege
Philly de Lacey and Ric Pellizzeri
Screentime NZ (TV ONE)

Best News Editing
Luis Portillo
Fashion
Breakfast (TV ONE)

Best Current Affairs Editing
Bob Griece
Aftershock
60 Minutes (TV3)

Best Graphics
Vinay Ranchhod
Devil in the Detail (TV ONE)

Best Production Design
John Harding
Tangiwai - A Love Story
Lippy Pictures (TV ONE)

Best Costume Design
Sarah Voon
Go Girls Season 4
South Pacific Pictures (TV2)

Best Make-Up Design
Linda Wall
Tangiwai - A Love Story
Lippy Pictures (TV ONE)

Best Comedy or Comedy Series
Hounds
thedownlowconcept and Matt McPhail
thedownlowconcept (TV3)

Best Popular Documentary
The Green Chain
Meg Douglas and Kathleen Mantel
Scottie Productions Ltd (Maori TV)

Best Feature or Drama Documentary
Strongman - The Tragedy
Paula McTaggard and Gaylene Preston
A Bigger Picture (TV3)

Best Coverage Breaking News
ONE News
Carterton Ballooning Tragedy
TV ONE

Best News or Current Affairs Presenter
Julian Wilcox
Political All In
Native Affairs (Maori TV)

Journalist of the Year
Melanie Reid
The Eye of the Storm
60 Minutes (TV3)

Best Maori Language Programme
Whare Taonga
Meg Douglas
Scottie Productions (Maori TV)

Best Presenter: Te Reo Maori
Julian Wilcox
Native Affairs
Maori Television (Maori TV)

Best Script - Drama / Comedy
John Banas
Siege
Screentime NZ (TV ONE)

Best Director - Drama / Comedy
Fiona Samuel
BLISS - the beginning of Katherine Mansfield
MF Films (TV ONE)

Best Drama Series
Go Girls Season 4
Britta Johnsone and Chris Bailey
South Pacific Pictures (TV2)

Best Scheduled News Programme
3 News
TV3

NZ Film Commission funding decisions Oct 2012

Taken from NZFC.

Here's the latest funding decisions from our October 2012 board meeting.

BOARD FUNDING - Production Financing

The Patriarch
Jump Film and Television Ltd
Producers: Robin Scholes, Timothy White and Janine Dickins
Writer John Collee
Director Lee Tamahori

The Patriarch, adapted from Ihimaera's novel Bulibasha: King of the Gypsies. You can read a bit more about it here.

Read the full funding decisions here.